Charlie took his Apparition test twice. He failed on the first attempt, materialising five miles south of his target location on top of an old Muggle woman doing her shopping. He passed on the second attempt. His brothers George and Fred made fun of this, but not to his face.[7]

Studying dragons

"Keep back there, Hagrid! They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail do forty!"

After graduating, Charlie went to Romania to study dragons. At some point, he acquired a new wand, and his old wand was passed down to his youngest brother, Ron. However, many of his peers believed that, had he chosen to, he could have played Quidditch professionally and would have been good enough to play for the English national side.

At Christmas in 1991, Charlie was visited by his parents and his sister, Ginny. During the early part of 1992, Charlie received a letter from Ron, asking for help in getting rid of a baby dragon Rubeus Hagrid acquired off a man in a pub. The dragon, a Norwegian Ridgeback named Norbert, was being illegally kept, but Ron - along with his friends Harry Potter and Hermione Granger - did not want their friend to get into trouble. Charlie, who had always got on well with Hagrid because of their shared love of dragons, agreed to help and arranged for some of his friends to pick up Norbert and deliver him to the dragon sanctuary in Romania where he worked.[4]

Charlie with his family in Egypt.

In 1993, Charlie joined the rest of his family for a holiday in Egypt after his father won seven hundred galleons in the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw.[8]

During the summer of 1994, Charlie returned to the Burrow to attend the Quidditch World Cup with the rest of his family. He also met Harry Potter for the first time. During the Death Eater disturbance in the aftermath of the Irish victory, Charlie, along with his father, Bill, and Percy assisted the Ministry in attempting to stop it. Charlie stayed at the Burrow for the summer and accompanied his siblings, Harry, and Hermione to King's Cross Station to see them off to Hogwarts on September 1st.

Bill and Charlie joust with tables at the Burrow.

During the Triwizard Tournament, Charlie assisted in bringing nesting mother dragons to Hogwarts for use in the First Task. They were transported over using a Sleeping Draught, and he did not dare tell his mother about them considering that she was still angry about Harry being allowed to compete in the Tournament. He remained on hand during the Task in case the dragons got out of hand, and congratulated Harry on beating the Hungarian Horntail. He relayed Harry's performance to Bill, saying it was "incredible." He attempted to get time off to attend the Third Task, but was unable to.[7]

Second Wizarding War

"Charlie's in the Order, too, but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off."

Recruiting foreign wizards

When Albus Dumbledore reconstituted the Order of the Phoenix to oppose Lord Voldemort, Charlie joined alongside his family. While his brother Bill returned to England to better serve the Order, Charlie remained in Romania and was assigned to recruit foreign wizards to the cause.[6]

Bill and Fleur's wedding

In the summer of 1997, Charlie once more returned to the Burrow, to serve as best man at Bill's wedding to Fleur Delacour. During a birthday celebration for Harry the day before the wedding, he informed Hagrid that Norbert was doing well - and was now called Norberta since they had discovered, to Hagrid's surprise, that the dragon was actually a female.

When the wedding was broken up by Death Eaters in the wake of the fall of the Ministry of Magic, he was questioned alongside his family, but was safe. He presumably returned to Romania, as both his father and brothers were allowed to return to work.

Battle of Hogwarts

While the rest of the Weasley family answered Neville Longbottom's call to arms to fight at the Battle of Hogwarts, Charlie did not join them immediately, possibly due to being out of the country at the time. However, he did arrive toward the end of the battle alongside Horace Slughorn, leading hundreds of reinforcements consisting of the residents of Hogsmeade and the friends and family of all the Hogwarts students who had chosen to stay and fight. Arriving just as Neville killed Nagini, he led them into battle against Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters, strengthening the weakened defenders of the castle. He also witnessed his mother killing Bellatrix Lestrange and Harry defeating Lord Voldemort once and for all.[9]

Later life

Following the war, Charlie did not marry or have children, as he was more interested in studying dragons than forming a romantic attachment. However, he had many nieces and nephews through all of his living siblings.

Physical appearance

Charlie Weasley in 1992.

Charlie was short and stocky, and he had muscled arms. His face was weather beaten from working outdoors, and was so freckled that he looked tanned. His fingers were usually covered in calluses and blisters, and, on one occasion during the summer of 1994, he had a large shiny burn on one of his arms. Like all the Weasley family, Charlie had red hair. It is possible he had long(ish) hair, as in 1997, on the day of Harry's seventeenth birthday, Molly forcefully cut his hair "brutally short."

Personality and traits

Charlie was described by his brother Percy as being "always more of an outdoor type." During his years at Hogwarts, Charlie liked animals and magical creatures; he later went to Romania in order to study about dragons. He also appeared to be friendly with his siblings, along with Rubeus Hagrid and Harry Potter, but he did not like the fact that his mother used to cut his hair short. Charlie was also brave, as he was sorted into Gryffindor house and fought in the Battle of Hogwarts against Voldemort. After the war, Charlie did not marry or have his own family. When asked, J. K. Rowling said he was not gay despite his lack of interest in women, instead preferring to continue studying dragons. This has prompted many to think he is an aromanticasexual.

Magical abilities and skills

Quidditch: During his years at Hogwarts, Charlie played as a seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He was a skilled Quidditch player as he helped Gryffindor win the cup many times. Oliver Wood claimed that Charlie could have played for England's national team if he wanted to. He also was captain of the team.

Relationships

Family

Charlie had a good relationship with his family. Arthur and Molly Weasley both were pure-blood wizards who loved their children very much and cared about them. However, they were economically poor and were considered by many as "blood-traitors," because they were not prejudiced against Muggles and Muggle-borns. Charlie's childhood might have been happy and friendly with his parents.

He also had a good relationship with his siblings. He appeared to be closest with Bill, because they were close in age. Bill was a good student, like Charlie; after Hogwarts, Bill worked for Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Egypt, and later married Fleur Delacour. Charlie was the best man at their wedding. It is possible that, after the war, they were as close as they were during their early years.

Charlie appeared to have a good relationship with his younger siblings, too. Percy believed that Charlie was "more of an outdoor type"; the reason that he liked studying dragons. Percy seemed to be proud that his brother was a good student, but they were not on good terms during the Second Wizarding War; Percy believed that his family was wrong for supporting Dumbledore. After the war, Percy changed his mind and his relationship with his siblings became better.

Fred and George, Ron, and Ginny seemed to like Charlie; they tended to look up to Charlie as much as Bill. During their early years, Charlie might have been close with them, but he left the country, in order to study dragons. Charlie met them again in 1994 and in 1997. They also fought together at the Battle of Hogwarts and survived the war; except for Fred, who was killed in an explosion. It is very likely that Charlie was devastated by his death, like the other members of the family.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter first heard of Charlie in 1991, during his first year at Hogwarts. Harry heard many times that Charlie was a great Quidditch player and was very happy when he and his team lived up to Charlie's reputation. Eventually, Harry became an excellent player and Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, like Charlie. They met each other in 1994, at the Burrow. Harry seemed to like Charlie, who also helped him during his first task of the Triwizard Tournament; he showed the four dragons to Rubeus Hagrid, Olympe Maxime, and Harry (under the Invisibility Cloak). Charlie also attended Harry's seventeenth birthday party, and, along with him, Bill and Fleur's wedding. They later fought together at the Battle of Hogwarts; Charlie also witnessed Harry defeating Lord Voldemort, and they both survived the war. They became brothers-in-law when Harry married his youngest sibling Ginny Weasley and Charlie became the uncle of James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily Luna Potter.

Order of the Phoenix members

Charlie became a member of the Order of the Phoenix during the Second Wizarding War. However, it is possible that he had not met all the members of the order, as he lived in Romania, leading reinforcements for the order. It is possible that he knew some members, such as Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, as Lupin and Tonks attended Bill and Fleur's wedding with Charlie, and Charlie's father always spoke highly of Moody. Charlie had also been in the same year as Tonks at Hogwarts, and may have known her prior to joining the Order.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, a young man with red hair is seen standing beside Nymphadora Tonks at the wedding. It is likely that he is Charlie, due to his haircut (similar to the one described in the book), the fact that he is the same age as Tonks and also Tonks' alleged friendship with Charlie.

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Gryffindors reminisce about his era as a distant golden age, since which the Gryffindor team has known years of frustration, yet from what J. K. Rowling tells us of his age, he would only have left Hogwarts months before. However, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor McGonagall reveals that they had not been in the running for the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup for seven years. This means that Charlie would've been in his second or third year when they last won it. This may indicate a slight continuity error on J.K.'s part, perhaps indicating she originally envisioned Charlie as being older than he became. It is also possible that, like Harry, Charlie was an excellent Quidditch player, but still only won the Cup on one or two occasions due to other circumstances.

Since the subplot of his job of recruiting foreign wizards for the Order of the Phoenix was scrapped from the films, it was never acknowledged if Charlie was a member of the Order of the Phoenix in the film continuity due to his frequent omissions from the film adaptions.

Etymology

The name "Charles" comes from the Germanic name Karl, which was derived from a Germanic word which meant "man". However, an alternative theory states that it is derived from the common Germanic element hari meaning "army, warrior".